/•'Vf, 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS 

A  SKETCH  BY  A  FRIEND 


BOSTON 

PRIVATELY  PRINTED 
1920 


The  Merrymount  Press  •  Boston 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS 

AJCE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  came  from  a  long 
line  of  good  British  stock.  She  was  in  the 
eighth  generation  from  John  Cogswell,  who  was 
born  at  Westbury  Leigh, Wiltshire,  in  1592.  He 
was  a  man  of  standing  and  of  considerable  in- 
herited property.  Among  the  latter  were  "  The 
Mylls,"  called  "Ripond,"  situated  in  the  parish 
of  Fromen,  Selwood,  together  with  the  home- 
stead and  certain  personal  property.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Thompson,  a  daughter  of  the  Vicar  of 
Westbury  parish.  After  twenty  years  of  married 
life,  during  which  they  had  lived  in  the  family 
homestead  and  he  had  carried  on  his  father's 
prosperous  business,  he  decided  to  emigrate  to 
America,  and  on  May  23,  1625,  leaving  one 
married  daughter  in  England,  they  embarked 
with  their  eight  other  children  on  the  famous 
ship,  TTie  Angel  Gabriel.  We  find  no  mention  of 
a  special  reason  for  their  leaving  England,  but 
it  was  probably  the  same  that  led  many  others 
of  their  type  to  begin  life  afresh  in  the  new  world; 
here  the  possibilities  of  the  country  to  be  devel- 
oped were  limitless,  and  doubtless  these  offered 


2  A  SKETCH 

a  better  outlook  for  their  children,  whose  welfare 

must  have  been  uppermost  in  their  thoughts  and 

plans. 

The  voyage  of  The  Angel  Gabriel  and  its 
wreck  off  Pemaquid,  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  in 
the  frightful  gale  of  August  15, 1625,  are  told  in 
the  graphic  story  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Mather, 
who  was  a  passenger  on  the  ship  James,  which 
sailed  from  England  on  the  same  day.  The  James 
lay  at  anchor  off  the  Isles  of  Shoals  while  The 
Angel  Gabriel  was  off  Pemaquid.  She  was  torn 
from  her  anchors  and  obliged  to  put  to  sea,  but 
after  two  days'  terrible  battling  with  storm  and 
wave,  reached  Boston  harbor  with  "  her  sails 
rent  in  sunder,  and  split  in  pieces,  as  if  they  had 
been  rotten  rags."  Of  The  Angel  Gabriel,  he 
says :  "  It  was  burst  in  pieces  and  cast  away." 
Strong  winds  from  the  northeast  and  great  tidal 
waves  made  it  a  total  wreck.  John  Cogswell  and 
all  his  family  were  washed  ashore  from  the  broken 
decks  of  their  ship,  but  several  others  lost  their 
lives.  Some  of  the  many  valuable  possessions  they 
had  brought  with  them  never  came  to  shore,  but 
among  the  articles  saved  was  a  tent  which  gave 
good  service  at  once;  this  Mr.  Cogswell  pitched 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  3 

for  a  temporary  abiding  place.  As  soon  as  pos- 
sible he  took  passage  for  Boston,  where  he  made 
a  contract  with  the  captain  of  a  small  bark  to  sail 
for  Pemaquid  and  transport  his  family  to  Ips- 
wich, Massachusetts,  then  a  newly  settled  town. 
The  settlers  of  Ipswich  at  once  appreciated 
these  newcomers,  and  the  municipal  records  show 
that  liberal  grants  of  land  were  made  to  John 
Cogswell.  Among  them  was  one  spoken  of  as 
"Three  hundred  acres  of  land  at  the  further 
Chebokoe,"  which  later  was  incorporated  as  a 
part  of  Essex.  Here  in  1636  their  permanent 
home  was  built,  and  here,  covering  a  period  of 
over  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  their  descend- 
ants cultivated  the  land.  The  Cogswells  had 
brought  with  them  several  farm  and  household 
servants,  as  well  as  valuable  furniture,  farming 
implements,  and  considerable  money .  A  log  house 
was  soon  built,  but  the  boxes  containing  their 
many  valuables  were  unopened  until  it  was  prac- 
ticable for  Mr.  Cogswell  to  build  a  frame  house. 
A  description  of  this  remains,  in  which  we  are  told 
that  it  stood  back  from  the  highway,  and  was 
approached  through  shrubbery  and  flowers.  It 
is  further  said,  that  among  the  treasures  which 


4  A  SKETCH 

were  taken  into  the  new  home  from  the  boxes 
were  several  pieces  of  carved  furniture,  embroi- 
dered curtains,  damask  table  linen,  and  much 
silver  plate ;  that  there  was  a  Turkish  carpet,  an 
unusual  treasure  for  those  days,  is  well  attested. 
Their  descendants  still  treasure  relics  of  their  an- 
cestors, such  as  articles  of  personal  adornment, 
a  quaint  mirror,  and  an  old  clock. 

John  Cogswell  was  the  third  original  settler 
in  that  part  of  Ipswich  which  is  now  Essex.  His 
piety,  his  intelligence,  and  his  comparative  wealth 
gave  him  a  leading  position  in  the  town  and  the 
church.  His  name  is  often  seen  in  the  records  of 
Ipswich  and  always  with  the  prefix  "Mr.," 
which,  in  those  days,  was  a  title  of  honor  given 
to  only  a  few  who  were  gentlemen  of  distinction. 
He  died  November  29,  1669,  aged  seventy- 
seven  years.  His  funeral  procession  traversed  a 
distance  of  five  miles  to  the  old  North  grave- 
yard of  the  First  Church,  under  an  escort  of 
armed  men  as  a  protection  against  a  possible 
attack  of  Indians.  Three  years  later  the  body  of 
Mrs.  Cogswell  was  laid  beside  her  husband's. 
The  record  that  remains  of  her  is :  "She  was  a 
woman  of  sterling  qualities  and  dearly  loved  by 


ALICE  COGSWELL  SEMIS  5 

all  who  knew  her."  Their  son,  William  Cogs- 
well, seems  to  have  had  many  of  his  father's 
traits  and  was  one  of  the  most  influential  citi- 
zens of  that  period.  To  him  was  due  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  parish  and  church  and  the  build- 
ing of  the  meeting-house;  and  when,  according  to 
the  quaint  custom  of  those  days,  the  seats  in  the 
meeting-house  were  assigned,  his  wife  was  given 
the  place  by  the  minister's  wife,  a  mark  of  greatest 
distinction.  Two  of  his  grandsons  were,  men  of 
note.  Colonel  Nathaniel  Wade  was  an  officer  in 
the  Revolutionary  army  and  a  personal  friend  of 
Washington  and  Lafayette.  Another,  the  Rev. 
Abiel  Holmes,  father  of  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale,  and  received 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Edin- 
burgh. He  was  settled  for  many  years  over  the 
First  Church  of  Cambridge. 

One  of  the  deeds  of  land  made  to  their  chil- 
dren was  to  their  son  William  "on  the  south 
side  of  Chebacco  River."  The  variation  in  the 
spelling  of  this  proper  name  is  one  of  the  many 
we  find  in  early  New  England  records.  At  the 
same  time  a  dwelling  at  Chebacco  Falls  was  given 
to  Deacon  Cornelius  Waldo,  who  had  married 


6  A  SKETCH 

their  daughter  Hannah.  In  direct  line  of  descent 
from  these  two,  and  in  the  sixth  generation  from 
the  first  Cogswell  in  America,  was  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson.  Mrs.  Bemis  was  in  the  eighth  gener- 
ation, through  the  son  William,  and  from  him 
also  was  descended  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  in 
the  fifth  generation.  We  cannot  well  follow  here 
the  descendants  of  the  other  children  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  Cogswell,  but  certain  it  is  that  in  each 
of  the  generations  to  the  present  day  we  find  many 
well-educated  men  and  women  of  character,  with 
a  strong  sense  of  their  obligations  as  citizens,  all 
doing  good  work  for  the  world  in  various  lines 
of  activity.  They  have  verified  what  one  has  writ- 
ten concerning  John  Cogswell  and  his  family: 
"  They  were  the  first  of  the  name  to  reach  these 
shores ;  the  lapse  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
has  given  to  them  a  numerous  posterity,  some  of 
whom  in  each  generation  have  lived  in  eventful 
periods,  have  risen  to  eminence,  and  fulfilled  dis- 
tinguished service  in  the  history  of  the  country." 

With  these  rich  inheritances  as  her  birthright, 
with  parents  who  enforced  and  strengthened  in 
their  children  the  principles  that  they  themselves 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  7 

had  been  taught,  Alice  Cogswell  was  born  in  the 
family  home  of  her  parents,  Daniel  and  Mary 
Davis  Randall  Cogswell,  at  Ipswich,  on  January 
5,  1845.  She  was  one  of  seven  children,  three 
of  whom  died  very  young,  and  of  the  seven  only 
her  sister  Lucy  survived  her.  The  mother  died 
when  Alice  was  only  four.  Until  the  time  of  the 
father's  death,  when  she  was  eighteen  and  her 
sister  three  years  older,  several  different  house- 
keepers were  in  charge  of  the  home,  and  yet  it  ap- 
pears that  these  two  young  girls  very  early  and 
in  a  way  most  unusual  for  any  so  young,  not  only 
gave  life  and  charm  to  the  house,  but  directed 
and  controlled  all  its  activities  to  a  great  extent. 
A  cousin  who  was  very  dear  to  Alice  writes  to 
her  son  of  his  memory  of  those  days  in  the  quiet 
country  home  at  Ipswich,  giving  a  charming  pic- 
ture that  shows  the  spirit  that  prompted  all  her 
life  to  its  end.  He  says:  "Every  one  in  Ipswich 
who  remembers  her  would  speak  of  her  sweet, 
cheery  and  generous  spirit.  One  of  the  very  ear- 
liest of  my  childhood  recollections  is  a  little  in- 
cident that  occurred  when  I  could  not  have  been 
more  than  four  or  five  years  old.  One  day  my 
mother  let  me  go  all  by  myself  to  Uncle  Cogs- 


8  A  SKETCH 

well's  tosee  Cousin  Alice.  Our  homes  were  rather 
near  together  but  it  was  to  me  then  a  journey 
of  large  proportions.  At  dinner  I  can  remember 
that  I  sat  next  Cousin  Alice  in  a  chair  with  two 
big  books  to  make  it  high  enough.  After  dinner 
we  went  into  the  garden  and  picked  a  basket  of 
pears  which  she  gave  me  to  take  home.  This 
little  visit  was  like  many  others  that  followed  and 
it  is  typical  of  all  that  she  has  done  through- 
out a  long  and  useful  life.  Though  I  was  only 
a  little  fellow,  I  have  a  strong  impression  of  an 
energetic,  influential  family,  full  of  good  deeds, 
and  of  a  large  house  with  well  stocked  cellars  and 
larders  that  seemed  to  exist  chiefly  for  the  benefit 
of  neighbors  and  friends.  Lucy  and  Alice  were 
beautiful  young  women.  Their  mother  died  when 
they  were  quite  young,  and  while  they  were  in 
their  early  'teens'  they  were  in  charge  of  the 
Cogswell  home.  This  they  made  most  attractive. 
My  boyhood  impression  is  that  they  were  always 
doing  nice  things  for  people —  always  sending 
their  friends  baskets  from  their  larder.  I  have  a 
wonderful  impression  of  Uncle  Cogswell's  gar- 
den. As  gardens  go  nowadays  it  may  not  have 
been  unusual,  but  to  me  it  was  a  rare  spot.  It 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  9 

contained  choice  varieties  of  currants,  gooseber- 
ries, pears  and  cherries.  There  may  have  been 
some  apple  trees,  but  I  have  the  feeling  that  apples 
were  a  trifle  common  to  associate  with  his  exotic 
varieties.  From  the  time  of  my  father's  death, 
which  occurred  when  I  was  eight  years  old, 
Cousin  Alice  seemed  to  assume  a  godmotherly 
interest  in  me  and  my  career.  Three  evenings  a 
week  I  went  to  the  Lowell  Institute,  which  kept 
me  in  town  too  late  to  go  home  to  Ipswich,  and 
she  gave  me  a  key  to  her  home  in  Newton  and 
had  a  room  always  ready  for  my  use.  She  al- 
ways took  a  generous  interest  in  my  work.  Her 
moral  support  was  everything  to  me.  She  made 
me  feel  that  my  profession  was  worthy  and  dig- 
nified." Many  students  whom  she  helped  in  later 
years  would  gladly  give  the  same  testimony  of 
support  and  encouragement  received  from  her. 
The  sisters  attended  the  Ipswich  Seminary, 
one  of  the  famous  schools  of  New  England  in  its 
day.  Its  principal,  Mrs.  Cowles,  had  an  attrac- 
tive personality,  a  cultivated  mind,  and  great  force 
of  character.  Her  husband,  Dr.  Cowles,  was  a 
clergyman  and  a  man  of  wide  influence,  though 
because  of  his  blindness  he  was  not  in  the  active 


10  A  SKETCH 

ministry  for  many  years.  In  spite  of  this  seem- 
ingly insurmountable  obstacle  he  was  a  constant 
student,  especially  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and 
wrote  much  of  value  on  the  Old  Testament.  His 
presence  added  greatly  to  the  household,  whose 
refined  and  stimulating  atmosphere  seems  to  have 
made  as  strong  an  impression  on  the  students  as 
did  the  soundness  of  the  teaching  in  the  class- 
room. The  two  sisters,  Lucy  and  Alice,  took  the 
entire  course  of  study  that  the  seminary  offered. 
Alice  graduated  from  it  in  1864.  Many  of  its 
pupils  became  women  of  large  influence  in  the 
world,  and  carried  from  their  life  in  the  semi- 
nary a  profound  impression  of  the  religious  in- 
fluences that  had  surrounded  them  there.  Their 
own  thought  and  their  manner  of  life  showed 
the  lasting  value  of  the  emphasis  that  had  been 
laid  in  the  school  on  the  supreme  importance  of 
right  living  and  right  thinking.  Those  who  knew 
the  sisters  well  recall  the  many  times  in  after  years 
when,  as  they  mentioned  some  wise  rule  for  life, 
they  prefaced  it  with,  "As  Mrs.  Cowles  used 
to  tell  us,"  or  "as  Dr.  Cowles  said."  One  of 
Mrs.  Cowles's  daughters  now  living  writes  of 
Alice:  "I  remember  that  she  was  universally 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  11 

liked  and  loved."  It  was  a  happy  school  life  and 
a  happy  girlhood  for  both  of  these  sisters.  Not- 
withstanding their  great  loss  in  having  to  grow 
to  womanhood  without  their  mother,  a  loss  of 
which  they  were  always  conscious,  they  had  great 
compensation  in  their  close  companionship  with 
their  father  and  with  each  other.  Their  father 
gave  them  the  best  of  instruction  in  things  spirit- 
ual, and  unusual  training  in  all  practical  matters, 
especially  with  regard  to  the  value  of  money, 
how  to  care  for  it  and  how  to  spend  it,  and  then 
gave  them  a  much  freer  hand  in  the  direction  ot 
many  personal  matters  than  most  girls  of  their 
age  were  accustomed  to  have;  this  freedom  they 
used  wisely.  One  of  them  was  once  asked  how 
they  filled  their  days  in  times  that  often  seem  very 
dull  and  uninteresting  to  the  modern  girl  with 
her  round  of  engagements.  The  answer  was, 
"  We  skated  in  winter  and  ran  wild  in  summer." 
What  was  said  in  jest  was  far  from  being  the 
literal  truth,  but  it  suggests  the  happy  impres- 
sion that  their  girlhood  gave  them  of  genuine 
freedom  guided  by  the  wise  counsels  of  others  and 
their  own  good  sense. 

In  June  of  1864  Lucy  Cogswell  was  married 


12  A  SKETCH 

to  Mr.  George  B.  Roberts,  and  their  house  be- 
came home  to  Alice.  Mr.  Roberts  afterward  built 
the  house  on  Craigie  Street,  Cambridge,  in  which 
they  spent  the  rest  of  their  lives.  It  was  here  that 
the  two  generations  met  often  while  the  Bemis 
family  lived  in  the  east,  and  later  when  they  came 
on  from  Colorado.  The  relation  between  the 
sisters  had  hitherto  been  a  particularly  close  one, 
and  was  only  strengthened  by  the  happy  new 
family  ties  that  came  to  each.  To  those  who  loved 
these  sisters  and  saw  both  come  to  a  time  when 
feebleness  and  physical  restriction  might  have 
been  before  them,  there  can  be  only  rejoicing  that 
they  were  spared  any  added  weakness  of  body, 
and  that  there  was  no  clouding  of  their  bright 
and  active  minds,  no  abatement  of  interest  in  the 
life  about  them  as  long  as  they  were  here.  Mrs. 
Roberts  had  been  in  such  delicate  health  for  sev- 
eral years  that  it  did  not  seem  possible  that  she 
would  outlive  her  sister,  but  only  two  months 
after  their  last  parting,  the  great  transition  came 
to  her  also. 

We  are  given  a  charming  glimpse  into  the  first 
meeting  between  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bemis  in  some 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  13 

interesting  reminiscences  Mr.  Bemis  has  recently 
written  for  his  grandchildren.  He  had  been  set- 
tled in  business  in  St.  Louis  for  some  years  when 
Alice  Cogswell,  shortly  after  her  sister's  mar- 
riage, went  there  to  visit  a  very  dear  aunt, "  Aunt 
bsev  Smyth."  The  occasion  of  their  meeting 
came  through  Mr.  Bemis's  first  visit  to  Boston 
in  1865,  which,  in  his  own  words,  "resulted  in 
an  important  occurrence."  He  met  there  a  busi- 
ness connection,  Mr.  Zenas  Gushing,  who  had 
become  Alice  Cogswell's  guardian  on  the  death 
of  her  father;  knowing  that  Mr.  Bemis  was  from 
St.  Louis,  Mr.  Gushing  gave  him  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction to  his  ward  and  bespoke  his  interest 
in  her  and  his  help  in  any  business  advice  she 
might  need.  Mr.  Bemis  tells  his  story  thus: 
"  Some  three  weeks  after  my  return  from  Boston 
I  gave  myself  the  pleasure  of  calling  one  evening 
and  presenting  the  letter.  As  I  am  writing  these 
lines  I  can  see  '  Miss  Cogswell '  coming  into  the 
parlor  where  I  was  awaiting  her.  She  was  dressed 
in  the  fashion  of  the  day,  having  on  a  silk  dress 
with  a  very  full  skirt  held  out  by  a  hoop-skirt  of 
large  dimensions.  She  met  me  cordially  and  asked 
me  to  be  seated  and  we  talked  for  an  hour  of  my 


14  A  SKETCH 

first  trip  to  Boston,  of  her  guardian  and  others. 
As  I  was  leaving  and  closing  the  gate  I  heard 
myself  saying  that  I  might  marry  that  girl  if  I 
could  win  her.  It  was  not  so-called  'love  at  first 
sight,'  but  it  ripened  into  love  with  a  few  sub- 
sequent calls.  I  think  it  was  a  very  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance that  I  met  Alice  Cogswell  when  I 
did."  And  very  fortunate  for  many  others  did 
this  union  prove.  The  outward  condition  of  their 
early  lives  was  very  different,  but  the  two  fami- 
lies from  which  they  came  were  alike  in  the  stand- 
ards which  they  held  for  themselves  and  in- 
stilled into  their  children. 

The  story  of  Mr.  Bemis's  early  years  is  the 
familiar  one  of  that  type  of  western  pioneer  to 
whom  the  whole  country  is  deeply  indebted.  He 
was  born  in  Fitchburg,  Massachusetts,  on  May 
18, 1833,  of  parents  who  had  all  the  best  inherit- 
ance to  give  their  children,  but  few  material  pos- 
sessions. When  he  was  an  infant  the  family  moved 
to  a  small  village  in  Chemung  County,  New  York, 
where  his  mother's  brother,  Henry  Farwell,  lived 
with  his  family.  The  relation  between  the  two 
families  was  a  close  one,  and  five  years  later  it 
was  decided  that  they  should  move  together  to 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  15 

Illinois.  Reports  of  its  fertile  soil  and  what  it 
promised  for  the  future  had  come  back  to  them 
by  the  slow  and  uncertain  mails.  They  knew  that 
it  offered  more  for  themselves,  and  what  was  far 
more  important  to  them,  for  their  children,  than 
they  could  ever  have  in  their  present  surround- 
ings. When  they  made  the  great  change  they 
knew  well  the  dangers  and  difficulties  that  must 
be  met  on  the  journey  when  taken  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions.  They  knew,  too,  how 
these  would  be  increased  in  their  case,  as  they 
were  taking  so  many  young  children,  eight  in 
all;  but  the  courageous  band  to  which  they  be- 
longed were  men  and  women  of  industry  and 
personal  integrity,  with  a  strong  sense  of  real 
values,  who,  having  made  their  decision,  took  no 
reckoning  of  obstacles  to  the  end  before  them. 

It  was  a  long,  difficult  journey.  In  a  pleasant 
sketch  of  this  that  Mr.  Bemis  has  given,  we  have 
only  the  remembrance  of  such  incidents  as  stay 
in  the  memory  of  a  child.  There  is  no  mention 
of  hardships.  He  recalls  the  covered  wagon,  but 
knows  only  from  others  of  the  slow  journey  to 
Buffalo,  thence  by  boat  to  Detroit,  and  the  con- 
tinued journey  to  Chicago,  then  Fort  Dearborn, 


16  A  SKETCH 

where  they  did  not  remain  for  fear  of  being  eaten 
by  mosquitoes  or  of  having  fever  and  ague,  and 
so  camped  at  what  is  now  Oak  Park.  Thence  they 
moved  on  to  Lighthouse  Point,  Ogle  County, 
Illinois,  where  the  Bemis  family  found  a  tempo- 
rary lodging  in  a  log  cabin  and  the  others  lived  in 
covered  wagons  until  they  had  built  a  comfortable 
cabin  for  themselves. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  making  of  the  new 
home  on  the  empty  prairie,  the  children  took 
their  full  share  in  the  work  it  involved.  Mr. 
Bemis  has  told  us  that  he  was  doing  from  one- 
half  to  two-thirds  of  a  man's  work  on  the  farm 
when  he  was  twelve  years  old,  the  year  in  which 
his  wife  was  born  into  the  well-established  life  of 
a  fine  old  New  England  town,  rich  for  her  in  all 
the  inheritances  that  seven  generations  gave;  all 
the  way  before  her  made  as  smooth  as  love  and 
ample  means  could  make  it. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  Mr.  Bemis  left  the 
farm  and  began  his  business  career  in  Chicago 
as  clerk  to  a  shipping  firm.  After  six  years,  with 
only  his  own  savings  for  his  capital,  and  helped 
by  the  loan  of  some  machinery  supplied  by  a 
cousin,  he  went  to  St.  Louis  and  began  the  busi- 


ALICE  COGSWELL  SEMIS  17 

ness  which  has  borne  his  name  for  over  sixty 
years,  a  name  that  is  a  synonym  in  all  the  busi- 
ness world  for  ability  and  integrity.  His  success 
did  not  come  by  accident,  or  by  any  so-called 
good  fortune,  but  as  the  result  of  patience  and 
perseverance,  steadily  following  the  principles 
and  the  rules  he  laid  down  for  himself  very  early 
in  life.  He  speaks  with  gratitude  of  the  fact  that 
he  had  to  learn  by  force  of  circumstances  "  the 
blessedness  of  drudgery  and  the  value  of  time 
and  money  in  his  long  hours  of  work  and  in 
the  closest  practice  of  economy." 

We  have  seen  how  different  were  the  outward 
circumstances  of  their  early  lives.  In  temperament 
also  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bemis  differed  much;  but  in 
sympathy  on  all  great  matters,  in  their  ideals  of 
life,  and  their  unfailing  recognition  of  their  own 
personal  obligation  and  duty,  they  were  always 
one.  In  the  reminiscences  he  has  written  for  his 
grandchildren,  Mr.  Bemis  says: "  Parents  can  lay 
the  foundation  for  each  child  by  their  own  life. 
They  are  giving  daily  examples  by  their  actions 
and  byword  of  mouth.  If  parents  are  living  well- 
ordered  and  Christian  lives,  their  children  will  be 
likely  to  follow  their  example.  They  will  know 


18  A  SKETCH 

nothing  else.  Good  boys  and  girls  make  good 
men  and  women.  An  educated  and  scientific  car- 
penter will  hew  and  mortise  the  timbers  to  fit  the 
keys  that  bind  the  frame  to  a  complete  and  solid 
house,  so  that  storm  and  winds  pass  it  by  un- 
harmed. So  with  boys  and  girls;  if  their  charac- 
ters are  moulded  in  truth,  mortised  and  keyed 
together  with  obedience  to  God  and  man,  when 
they  become  men  and  women  they  will  withstand 
the  environment  of  bad  persons  and  escape  un- 
scathed. Hence  their  young  lives,  founded  on  the 
bedrock  of  Christian  characters,  are  well  quali- 
fied to  work  out  their  own  destiny  and  make  their 
lives  whatever  they  will." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bemis  were  married  at  the  home 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  B.  Roberts,  in  Cam- 
bridgeport,  Massachusetts,  on  November  21, 
1866,  and  went  directly  to  their  new  home  in 
St.  Louis.  There  the  oldest  son,  Judson  Cogs- 
well, was  born  in  December  of  the  following 
year;  and  there  they  remained  until  they  re- 
turned to  Boston  in  1870,  when  for  business 
reasons  it  became  necessary  for  Mr.  Bemis  to 
have  his  headquarters  in  that  city.  After  the  birth 


ALICE  COGSWELL  SEMIS  19 

of  the  second  son,  Albert  Farwell,  they  moved 
to  Newton,  Massachusetts,where  their  three  other 
children  were  born :  Maude,  now  Mrs.  Reginald 
H.  Parsons,  Lucy  Gardner,  who  lived  less  than 
three  years,  and  Alice,  now  Mrs.  Frederick 
M.  P.  Taylor.  Three  of  these  survived  their 
mother  and  had  long  been  established  in  their 
own  homes  before  she  left  them.  To  the  father 
and  mother  was  given  the  great  happiness  of 
seeing  each  of  these  new  households  controlled 
by  the  same  standards  of  right  and  the  same  sense 
of  personal  and  civic  responsibility  on  which  they 
had  built  their  own  united  lives. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bemis's  home  was  in  Newton 
for  eleven  years,  and  during  that  time  it  was  the 
centre  for  the  family  connection  in  New  England 
and  for  many  friends.  It  was  always  rich  in  asso- 
ciation for  themselves  and  family,  and  was  made 
rich  in  the  same  way  for  many  others.  Family 
cares  that  came  upon  Mrs.  Bemis  and  the  part 
she  took  in  the  life  of  the  church  and  the  com- 
munity made  the  years  spent  there  the  most 
active  of  her  life.  After  her  removal  to  Colorado 
Springs,  she  showed  in  a  practical  and  liberal 
form  her  interest  in  the  First  Congregational 


20  jl  SKETCH 

Church  in  that  city,  which  the  family  attended, 
but  she  had  such  a  strong  sentiment  about  the 
church  at  Newton  and  the  experiences  that  came 
to  her  while  connected  with  it  that  she  never  re- 
moved her  membership;  its  pastor,  Dr.  Calkins, 
and  his  wife  were  among  her  most  valued  friends. 

In  1881  a  serious  throat  trouble  developed,  and 
Mrs.  Bemis  was  taken  south  for  the  winter. 
She  did  not  gain  there,  and  the  following  year 
was  sent  to  Colorado  Springs.  Slight  hope  was 
then  given  to  her  family  of  her  living  more  than 
a  few  months,  but  the  climate  and  the  sunshine 
effected  what  had  seemed  impossible,  and  within 
a  few  years  she  was  able  to  lead  a  comparatively 
normal  life  in  the  new  home  where  she  was  hap- 
pily settled.  A  house  was  rented  for  the  family 
until  1885,  when  the  one  at  508  North  Cascade 
Avenue  was  built.  This  was  henceforth  home  to 
her  and  to  all  the  family  as  long  as  she  was  there 
with  her  welcome  for  them,  and  it  soon  became 
a  centre  for  a  large  number  of  friends  who  are 
rich  in  memories  of  the  unfailing  welcome  and 
genuine  hospitality  so  freely  given  them.  These 
were  not  restricted  to  a  limited  number  with 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMJS  21 

tastes  and  outward  circumstances  that  were  com- 
paratively alike,  but  were  extended  to  a  large 
circle  that  differed  widely  in  both  of  these.  The 
sincerity,  genuineness,  and  simplicity  of  the  lives 
of  those  that  made  this  home  created  an  atmos- 
phere that  was  felt  as  soon  as  one  entered  it. 

Many  of  the  younger  generation  both  within 
and  without  the  family  circle  will  have  enduring 
memories  of  that  house.  Alan  Gregg  recalled  in 
a  few  words  childhood  memories  that  were  com- 
mon to  many;  writing  from  his  post  in  France  he 
said :  "  Mrs.  Bemis's  death  was  a  great  surprise 
and  shock,  and  the  long  time  that  elapsed  be- 
tween knowing  of  her  illness  and  her  death  made 
me  feel  pretty  far  away.  I  remember  her  letting 
me  play  that  music  box  to  my  heart's  content, 
and  the  way  she  made  Gregg  laugh  at  an  un- 
expected fall  he  took,  instead  of  cry,  better  than 
anything  else.  She  could  also  do  nice  things  for 
you  without  spilling  over  into  sentimentality." 
Her  grandchildren's  recollections  of  her  will 
be  mostly  in  connection  with  events  in  their  own 
homes,  where  her  visits  were  looked  for  eagerly 
by  those  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  those  on  the 
Pacific,  but  happily  some  of  them  are  old  enough 


22  A  SKETCH 

to  remember  and  pass  on  to  the  others  the  im- 
pression made  on  them  and  on  other  children  in 
the  family  connection,  of  the  grandmother's  great 
pleasure  in  being  with  them  and  her  plans  for  their 
comfort  and  happiness.  They  recall  the  perfect 
housekeeping,  where  the  wheels  seemed  to  move 
easily  and  were  always  out  of  sight;  the  dainti- 
ness of  all  its  appointments,  which  was  shown  too 
in  the  dress  and  personal  adornments  of  her  who 
made  this  home  and  of  those  who  shared  it  with 
her.  Here  she  welcomed  many  of  her  old  friends 
and  also  new  acquaintances  with  whom  lasting 
friendships  were  formed;  here  the  children  gath- 
ered around  them  a  fine  group  of  congenial  com- 
panions who  became  their  lasting  friends;  here 
they  grew  to  manhood  and  to  womanhood;  from 
thence  they  were  all  married,  and  hither  they  all 
returned  many  times,  with  wife,  husbands,  and 
their  own  sons  and  daughters  for  happy  family 
reunions. 

In  this  home  the  saddest  as  well  as  the  most 
joyful  experiences  of  her  life  came  to  her.  The 
former  were  borne  with  the  calmness  and  strength 
shown  only  by  those  with  great  capacity  for  suf- 
fering and  great  power  of  self-control.  The  hard- 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  23 

est  trial  that  she  had  ever  known  was  at  a  time 
when  she  had  little  physical  strength  to  meet  it. 
After  a  year  with  the  family  in  Colorado,  the 
eldest  son,  Judson,  was  sent  to  a  manual  training 
school  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where  there  were 
many  family  friends.  He  was  a  lad  of  much  prom- 
ise, a  great  reader,  with  varied  gifts  and  tastes. 
He  had  a  very  social  nature  and  a  warm  interest 
in  people,  was  noble  in  character,  and  deep  in  his 
affections.  The  separation  was  very  hard  for  his 
mother,  but  it  was  met  with  the  unselfishness  she 
always  showed  when  her  children's  interests  were 
to  be  considered.  She  herself  chose  it,  as  she  wanted 
him  to  have  this  special  kind  of  training  that 
could  not  be  found  nearer  home.  In  the  second 
year  of  his  absence  he  was  taken  suddenly  ill  with 
pneumonia.  His  parents  were  summoned  at  once, 
and  his  father  arrived  before  his  death,  but  his 
mother  could  not  reach  St.  Louis  till  some  hours 
later.  The  loss  of  the  little  daughter  Lucy,  who 
had  died  in  Newton  of  scarlet  fever,  was  still  fresh 
in  her  memory  when  the  new  sorrow  came.  This 
was  borne  wonderfully,  but  it  changed  all  life 
for  her  as  nothing  else  ever  did.  In  1904  came  the 
third  break  in  the  family  circle,  when  Mrs.  Par- 


24  A  SKETCH 

sons  with  her  beautiful  little  girl,  Alice  Loraine, 
nearly  three  years  old,  the  first  granddaughter  in 
the  family,  was  visiting  her  grandparents  in  Colo- 
rado Springs.  No  child  could  have  been  more 
tenderly  loved  and  cared  for  than  she,  but  noth- 
ing could  avert  the  fatal  illness  that  developed 
soon  after  their  arrival. 

During  the  years  that  followed  her  going  west, 
Mrs.  Bemis  spent  only  one  summer  there.  For 
several  successive  seasons  she  went  with  her  chil- 
dren to  Minnetonka  in  Minnesota;  but  it  was 
not  possible  for  Mr.  Bemis  to  be  with  them  there 
more  than  he  was  during  the  winter,  because  of 
its  distance  from  Boston,  and  a  happy  change 
came  to  all  when  later  Mrs.  Bemis  had  gained 
enough  to  make  it  safe  for  her  to  spend  some 
months  of  each  year  by  the  sea  on  Cape  Ann, 
where  the  family  had  headquarters  for  many 
summers.  Twice  she  went  abroad  with  her  chil- 
dren; first  during  the  summer  of  1891  and  five 
years  later  for  a  year  of  study  and  extended  travel 
for  her  daughters.  Marjorie  Gregg,  who  knew 
her  well,  recalling  her  many  journeys,  says: 
"  Few  not  loving  travel  for  its  own  sake  could 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  25 

or  would  have  taken  so  many  long  journeys. 
The  trips  east  in  the  spring  and  back  to  Colo- 
rado in  the  autumn  became  a  habit,  and  she  car- 
ried them  out  with  precision  and  determination 
that  did  not  ignore  discomforts;  she  saw  these, 
felt  them  and  mentioned  them,  but  never  feared 
or  regarded  them.  She  planned  and  packed  and 
made  all  arrangements  without  confusion  or  mis- 
takes; never  'took  it  out'  on  other  people,  but 
refused  help  even  in  late  years.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  count  up  the  miles  travelled,  the  time 
spent  on  Pullman  cars,  the  trunks  packed  —  all 
not  because  of  Wanderlust,  curiosity,  or  restless- 
ness, but  for  love  of  family — that  she  and  her 
children  might  be  with  their  father  half  of  each 
year  and  that  she  might  keep  close  to  her  sister 
and  nieces,  whose  relation  to  'Aunt  Alice'  was 
as  close  as  if  the  two  families  had  lived  in  the 
same  town.  Later  Grandpaand  Grandma  Bemis 
journeyed  together  indefatigably." 

When  Mr.  Bemis  laid  aside  many  of  the  de- 
tails of  his  business,  they  chose  Lake  Mohonk, 
New  York,  for  their  summer  home,  and  the  last 
seven  summers  of  her  life  were  spent  very  hap- 
pily there;  so  happily,  that  each  year  they  en- 


26  A  SKETCH 

gaged  the  same  rooms  for  the  following  season 
and  said  they  meant  to  do  this  as  long  as  they 
lived.  It  became  a  real  home  to  them.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Smiley,  wonderful  host  and  hostess  to  all, 
were  soon  their  warm  personal  friends,  and  many 
pleasant  acquaintances  with  guests  were  renewed 
each  year.  Among  their  most  valued  friends  there 
was  Dr.  Faunce,  president  of  Brown  University, 
who  conducted  the  Sunday  services  year  after 
year.  They  considered  his  sermons  as  among  the 
best  and  most  helpful  they  ever  heard,  and  after 
each  season  thought  and  talked  much  of  them, 
always  looking  forward  to  the  coming  of  the 
summer  Sundays,  their  brightest  days  at  Mohonk . 
Here  every  condition  met  their  tastes  and  their 
needs;  the  great  beauty  of  the  place  itself,  the 
quiet  and  peace  of  the  house,  the  wise  and  un- 
usual way  in  which  it  is  ordered,  all  combined  to 
give  them  an  ideal  residence  for  the  summer.  The 
fact  that  young  people  of  a  fine  type  were  al- 
ways there  added  much  to  Mrs.  Bemis's  pleas- 
ure. She  enjoyed  watching  their  sports  and  their 
life  in  the  open.  Her  windows  overlooked  the 
lake,  and  she  sat  there  hour  after  hour  watching 
the  parties  coming  and  going  in  boats  and  climb- 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  27 

ing  the  hills.  Her  delight  in  the  beauties  of  the 
whole  picture  before  her,  than  which  there  are 
few  to  compare  with  it  the  world  over,  grew 
steadily  with  each  day  there.  Just  before  leaving 
Mohonk  for  the  last  time,  she  wrote  to  a  young 
cousin :  "  I  wish  I  could  transport  you  all  here. 
I  have  always  said  that  I  would  like  to  live  on 
a  beautiful  estate  and  have  no  care  of  it;  and 
here  I  have  been  for  seven  summers  and  no  place 
by  any  possibility  could  be  finer.  Mr.  Smiley  did 
not  spoil  nature  but  kept  its  wonderful  beauty 
and  added  to  it." 

During  the  last  years  they  were  together,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bemis  made  several  interesting  trips  to 
California  and  to  Seattle,  to  be  with  their  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Parsons.  The  mere  recital  of  all  these 
journey  ings  may  give  the  impression  that  the  life 
in  Colorado  Springs  was  a  very  broken  one,  but 
it  did  not  seem  so  to  her  friends  there,  for  at  each 
return  it  was  resumed  so  quickly  and  so  quietly 
that  they  think  of  it  rather  as  continuous.  No 
friend  and  no  interest  she  had  in  any  work  that 
helped  on  the  general  welfare  was  ever  ignored 
or  forgotten  by  her  wherever  she  might  be. 


28  A  SKETCH 

Probably  there  has  never  been  anyone  in  Col- 
orado Springs  with  so  many  enforced  absences 
and  the  same  limitations  of  strength  who  has  done 
as  much  as  she  in  enriching  individual  lives  with 
friendship  and  the  community  life  with  sym- 
pathy and  generous  material  aid.  Nothing  that 
she  counted  a  duty  sat  lightly  on  her  mind  or 
conscience. 

Miss  Ellen  T.  Brinley,  who  was  for  many  years 
a  friend  and  neighbor  of  Mrs.  Bemis,  wrote 
shortly  after  her  death:  "She  was  a  real  New 
Englander  of  a  type  all  too  rare  in  these  degen- 
erate days.  For  many  years  she  was  not  very 
strong,  and  yet  she  was  one  of  the  least  self-in- 
dulgent people  that  ever  lived.  Wealth  to  her  was 
not  a  reason  for  luxury  and  pleasure  seeking, 
but  an  opportunity  for  helping  others  —  with  a 
lack  of  ostentation  characteristic  of  her  whole 
nature.  She  was  truly  a  secret  helper.  That  the 
young  should  have  their  chance  in  life  and  that 
the  paths  of  the  needy  should  be  made  more  easy, 
became  increasingly  the  object  of  her  life.  Colo- 
rado College  and  the  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association  were  the  two  organizations  in 
Colorado  Springs  whose  welfare  she  had  most  at 


V 


/ 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  29 

heart,  and  for  them  she  was  constantly  devising 
liberal  things.  In  the  wakeful  hours  of  the  night, 
she  planned  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  others,  and 
her  spirit  of  good  will  came  from  no  weak  senti- 
mentality. She  was  a  woman  of  good  judgment, 
an  incisive  mind,  and  a  strong  character.  She  was 
a  wonderfully  loyal  friend  and  her  daily  life  cen- 
tred in  her  own  family  circle,  in  a  few  personal 
friendships,  and  in  the  benevolence  which  was  her 
avocation." 

Even  her  closest  friends  knew  but  little  of  her 
constant  and  quiet  deeds  of  kindness,  and  that 
rarely  from  her  directly.  It  could  never  be  said 
of  her  that  she  was  "  confidential  with  her  left 
hand."  From  the  recipients  of  her  generosity 
more  is  known  than  could  have  been  learned  from 
her.  Often  with  an  apology  lest  she  might  seem 
to  intrude,  she  learned  if  friends,  and  sometimes 
mere  acquaintances  and  even  strangers,  needed 
assistance  at  a  time  when  she  knew  an  emergency 
had  come  to  them,  and  often  asked  others  to  be 
the  means  of  meeting  such  needs,  not  letting  it 
be  known  whence  the  help  came.  "Just  tell  them 
you  have  it  to  give  away,"  she  would  often  say. 
Sometimes  she  gave  to  personal  friends  a  check, 


30  A  SKETCH 

asking  that  they  spend  it  as  they  thought  best  in 

ministering  to  others. 

This  was  done  for  many  years  to  some  who 
were  in  close  touch  with  the  students  of  Colorado 
College.  "  Don't  take  the  trouble  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  this,"  she  would  say,  "only  be  sure  that 
it  goes  where  it  is  really  needed."  But  when  the 
account  was  rendered,  she  wanted  to  hear  all  that 
could  be  told  of  the  circumstances  of  each  one 
who  had  been  helped,  and  often  arranged  that 
certain  of  these  should  have  further  assistance.To 
a  number  this  was  voluntarily  continued  during 
their  professional  studies.  The  following,  from  a 
letter  to  her  son  in  19O8,  shows  her  sympathetic 
understanding  of  the  students  whom  she  helped: 

"  I  wonder  if  I  told  you  that  the  suit  that  you 

left  here  I  gave  to  Mrs.  S for  one  of  the 

college  boys.  The  lining  was  greatly  worn  and  so 
I  pinned  on  an  envelope  with  $5.OO  in  it  and  she 
gave  it  to  a  very  needy  fellow  who  is  working 
and  attending  college.  She  had  a  letter  from  him 
and  from  the  mother.  I  am  going  to  send  her 
letter  and  some  other  letters  from  other  boys  to 
whom  the  President  has  given  a  little  from  time 
to  time  from  a  little  that  I  gave  him  early  in  the 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEM1S  31 

winter.  I  want  you  to  read  them,  for  I  don't  think 
that  any  of  us  realize  how  brave  these  poor  stu- 
dents are,  and  really  they  are  the  ones  whom  we 
hear  of  later;  the  rich  men's  sons  fall  short  in 
some  way." 

Mrs.  Bemis  was  one  of  a  group  of  women  who, 
in  the  spring  of  1889,  organized  the  Women's 
Education  Society  of  Colorado  College.  The 
resolutions  passed  by  its  executive  board  at  the 
time  of  her  death  so  adequately  express  her  re- 
lation to  the  Society  that  they  are  here  quoted 
in  full : 

"The  Executive  Board  of  the  Women's  Ed- 
ucational Society  wishes  to  place  on  record  its 
sense  of  irreparable  loss  in  the  passing  of  Alice 
Cogswell  Bemis. 

"  Her  association  with  the  work  of  the  Soci- 
ety has  extended  over  a  long  period  of  years,  and 
her  part  in  it  has  always  been  characterized  by 
fidelity  to  the  purpose  of  the  organization  and 
keen  discrimination  in  the  execution  of  the  trust. 
She  brought  to  the  problems  confronting  the 
Board  rare  insight  and  judgment,  and  her  busi- 
ness acumen  was  invaluable. 


32  A  SKETCH 

"  Many  students  of  Colorado  College  are  per- 
sonally indebted  to  her  for  the  removal  of  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  the  successful  prosecution  of 
their  work  in  which  her  interest  was  vital  and 
perennial.  A  story  of  genuine  need  never  failed 
to  elicit  her  assistance.  Of  her  general  construc- 
tive planning  for  the  many-sided  life  of  the  young 
women,  Bemis  Hall  and  Cogswell  Theatre  are 
enduring  evidence. 

"The  Board  has  lost  a  useful  member,  her 
friends  a  wise  counselor,  and  philanthropic  agen- 
cies a  generous  helper  to  whom  worthy  cause  or 
person  never  appealed  in  vain." 

Another  organization  to  which  she  contributed 
much  pleasure  and  from  which  she  received  the 
same  is  the  Art  Club  of  Colorado  Springs.  A 
group  of  women  whose  personal  relation  to  her 
was  close  and  increasingly  dear  as  the  years  passed, 
formed  its  membership.  They  met  twice  a  month 
at  each  other's  houses,  read,  and  studied  pictures, 
finding,  as  one  says,  "  an  alleviation  not  unwel- 
come in  that  life  where  tuberculosis  and  the  gold 
fever  of  the  early  days  alternately  possessed  the 
atmosphere."  The  Art  Club  owed  much  of  its 
genuine  life  to  Mrs.  Bemis ;  her  interest  in  art, 


ALICE  COGSWELL  SEMIS  33 

her  keenness  to  acquire  and  classify  the  know- 
ledge that  she  loved,  was  as  strong  as  her  friend- 
ship and  neighborliness.  The  utmost  hospitality 
to  invalid  strangers  was  part  and  parcel  of  those 
Colorado  Springs  early  days,  and  in  goodness 
to  obscure  invalids  and  in  lending  a  hand  in 
hard  times  no  one  could  tell  the  extent  of  her 
benefactions. 

All  that  Mrs.  Bemis  did  will  never  be 
known,  and  what  she  gave  was  never  told  at  the 
time  unless  it  seemed  best  for  obvious  reasons 
that  her  identification  with  a  good  movement 
should  be  made  public.  The  unsolicited  gifts  must 
have  been  manifold  compared  with  those  she 
gave  in  response  to  appeals.  It  was  always  easy 
to  approach  her  for  any  good  cause.  If  she  gave, 
it  was  always  with  good  will;  if  she  declined  to 
do  so,  a  distinct  reason  for  the  refusal  was  stated ; 
and  she  was  as  careful  not  to  pauperize  by  giving 
as  she  was  not  to  withhold  where  it  was  due,  and 
was  entirely  free  from  the  bitterness  common  to 
a  certain  type  of  persons  who  are  wont  to  think 
that  their  generosity  is  being  imposed  upon.  She 
often  afforded  amusement  to  her  friends  by  the 
way  in  which  she  prefaced  an  offer  of  help  with 


34  A  SKETCH 

a  seeming  apology.  She  even  seemed  at  times  to 
call  those  who  were  working  in  a  good  cause  to 
account  because  its  pressing  needs  had  not  been 
met,  and  then  met  them  herself. 

A  notable  instance  of  this  was  her  gift  of  the 
gymnasium  to  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association.  When  the  present  Association  build- 
ing was  erected  she  gave  generously  to  the  build- 
ing fund.  A  gymnasium  was  greatly  needed  then, 
but  no  money  was  available  for  it.  A  space  was 
left  on  the  lot  that  had  been  purchased  in  the  hope 
that  a  building  might  be  put  there  later.  Very 
soon  the  growth  of  the  work  showed  that  no 
gymnasium  adequate  even  for  the  present  de- 
mands could  be  built  on  that  limited  space.  The 
girls  of  the  Association  clamored  for  it  and  the 
members  of  the  board,  who  even  more  than 
they  knew  how  much  it  was  needed,  were  heavy 
hearted.  No  one  spoke  of  the  situation  to  Mrs. 
Bemis  until  she  herself  broached  it  to  one  of  the 
board  in  a  tone  that,  to  one  who  did  not  know 
her,  might  have  seemed  a  reprimand.  She  pre- 
faced what  was  on  her  mind  thus:  "  I  do  not 
approve  at  all  of  your  putting  up  a  building  on 
that  small  space.  You  ought  to  buy  that  lot  to  the 


ALICE  COGSWELL  SEMIS  35 

north."  The  board  member  could  but  agree.  The 
protest  was  again  made,  and  the  board  member 
could  only  repeat  her  agreement,  but  knew  from 
the  manner  of  approach  to  the  subject  that  some- 
thing was  back  in  Mrs.  Bemis's  mind  that  she 
would  have  to  tell,  though  she  wished  it  might 
be  known  without  her  telling  it!  And  then  it 
came.  She  would  like  to  see  that  lot  when  no 
one  would  know  that  she  was  looking  at  it,  and 
if  it  was  n't  too  much  trouble,  could  it  be  ar- 
ranged for  her  to  do  this?  It  was  planned  that 
she  should  go  early  one  Sunday  morning  to  the 
building,  when  very  few  were  in  the  lower  rooms. 
She  looked  out  on  the  vacant  space  and  said, 
"Don't  you  see  it  will  not  do  at  all?"  Within 
twenty- four  hours  she  asked  some  one  to  nego- 
tiate for  the  purchase  of  the  lot  at  the  north  and 
gave  it  to  the  Association,  adding  a  check  that 
made  possible  the  present  beautiful  gymnasium. 
She  dismissed  with  no  mistaken  emphasis  the 
proposal  that  this  should  bear  her  name.  Her 
pleasure  in  the  building  was  great,  and  in  ex- 
pressing this  pleasure  she  always  seemed  only  to 
be  commending  the  Association  for  having  it. 
Her  part  in  it  seemed  nothing  to  her.  "  Others 


36  A  SKETCH 

have  had  to  do  all  the  work,"  she  would  say  if 

her  gift  was  mentioned. 

When  Bemis  Hall,  the  main  residence  for  girls 
at  Colorado  College,  was  being  built,  it  was  found 
that  by  excavating  under  the  dining-room  there 
would  be  space  for  a  theatre,  in  which  the  stu- 
dents could  give  plays  and  various  college  meet- 
ings might  be  held.  This  was  done,  and  the  room 
was  named  Cogswell  Theatre  in  her  honor.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  latter  was  done  under 
protest,  although  aided  and  abetted  by  some  of 
her  family.  "  What  would  my  ancestors  say  to 
having  a  theatre  bear  their  name!"  she  said, 
laughing.  Among  the  memories  of  the  past  nine 
years  to  those  who  have  enjoyed  that  little  the- 
atre, none  is  happier  than  that  of  seeing  the  faces 
of  two  very  dear  friends  following  each  word 
and  movement  on  the  stage,  laughing  at  times 
till  the  tears  came,  and  giving  over  and  over  their 
entire  approval  of  the  existence  of  the  theatre, 
with  no  further  protest  against  its  name.  These 
two  friends  rarely  missed  seeing  whatever  was 
presented  on  that  stage,  though  seldom  tempted  by 
public  entertainments  to  give  up  their  quiet  even- 
ings at  home.  Indeed,  every  thing  in  that  beautiful 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  37 

hall  named  for  Mr.  Bern  is — whose  generosity, 
to  the  college  is  there  made  known  only  in  part  — 
seemed  to  give  them  pleasure,  and  no  one  else 
will  ever  cross  its  threshold  who  can  receive  just 
the  kind  of  welcome  they  always  found  await- 
ing them. 

While  the  number  of  organizations  which 
Mrs.  Bemis  helped  is  not  known,  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  mention  those  which  for  many  years 
counted  on  her  interest  and  liberal  support,  one 
must  be  noted  as  showing  her  abiding  interest  in 
all  that  related  to  her  native  town  and  the  region 
about  it.  This  is  the  Ipswich  Historical  Society, 
which  was  organized  in  189O,  and  of  which  she 
was  the  first  life  member.  On  its  twenty-fifth  an- 
niversary, in  response  to  what  was  only  a  printed 
appeal,  she  sent  the  first  substantial  gift  of  money 
it  received.  Within  a  few  months  of  her  death, 
learning  that  a  fireproof  building  for  the  Society 
had  been  proposed,  she  wrote  to  Mr.  T.  Frank- 
lin Waters,  its  president,  asking  for  particulars 
of  the  plan  under  consideration,  and  on  receipt  of 
his  reply  sent  a  check  for  so  large  a  proportion  of 
the  estimated  cost  that  she  was  asked  to  consent 
to  have  the  building  named  for  her.  Following 


38  A  SKETCH 

a  determination  made  long  before  that  her  gifts 
should  not  be  made  conspicuous  in  any  way,  she 
would  not  consent  to  this. 

Mrs.  Bemis  was  as  quick,  open,  and  generous  in 
her  recognition  of  what  others  did  along  philan- 
thropic lines  as  she  was  reticent  concerning  her 
own  good  deeds.  This  was  especially  noticeable 
in  her  attitude  toward  all  the  private  and  public 
benefactions  of  her  husband  and  children.  Her 
quiet  satisfaction  in  these  was  beautiful  to  see. 
Her  children  received  all  sympathy  and  encour- 
agement in  every  good  work  they  undertook,  but 
she  never  assumed  the  right  to  dictate  in  these 
matters  or  took  any  credit  to  herself  for  anything 
they  did,  not  thinking  of  the  power  of  her  exam- 
ple and  the  life-long  training  she  had  given  them. 
Her  recognition  of  all  her  husband's  benefac- 
tions and  her  sympathy  in  his  planning  for  them 
were  unfailing.  One  of  the  most  important  and 
far  reaching  of  these  was  in  connection  with  a 
work  along  social  lines  in  the  town  of  Bemis, 
Tennessee,  where  his  firm  had  built  a  cotton  mill. 
From  the  inception  of  the  town  the  need  of  this 
work  was  much  in  the  thought  of  their  son,  who 


ALICE  COGSWELL  SEMIS  39 

has  since  succeeded  his  father  as  president  of  their 
company,  and  whose  practical  interest  in  the  bet- 
terment of  all  social  relations,  especially  of  those 
between  the  employer  and  the  employed,  is  widely 
known.  Together  they  carried  out  their  ideals  in 
the  new  town  of  Bemis.The  operators  were  those 
known  in  the  south  as  poor  whites.  The  opening 
of  the  mill  gave  to  these  people  an  undreamed 
of  opportunity  to  earn  money.  It  also  offered  to 
them  a  great  privilege  and  at  the  same  time  a 
possibility  of  great  danger.  The  privilege  was  that 
of  being  able  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives  to 
command  money  and  to  use  it  so  that  it  would 
make  them  better  and  happier;  the  danger  was 
that  they  might  use  it  so  that  moral  deteriora- 
tion would  follow.  Both  these  possibilities  were 
foreseen  in  the  first  plans  for  the  town,  and  provi- 
sion was  made  for  the  physical,  mental,  and  spirit- 
ual needs  of  the  people  that  would  as  far  as  possi- 
ble avert  the  danger.  A  social  worker  was  engaged 
to  live  as  a  friend  among  the  people,  and  a  church, 
school,  and  library  were  provided  for  them.  Mrs. 
Bemis  had  much  pleasure  in  following  every  step 
in  the  development  of  this  work,  while  careful 
to  disclaim  any  credit  for  its  success,  again  not 


40  A  SKETCH 

thinking  what  her  encouragement  and  coopera- 
tion meant  to  both  husband  and  son.  But  they  and 
all  her  children  pay  her  full  tribute  for  the  stimu- 
lus of  example  and  for  the  sympathy  shown  in 
every  good  work  to  which  they  put  their  hands. 

This  woman  of  many  noble  traits  was  espe- 
cially endowed  with  the  rare  gift  of  loyal  and 
understanding  friendship.  Her  relation  to  kin- 
dred and  personal  friends  brought  to  her  and  to 
them  an  unusual  degree  of  happiness.  This  was 
so  great  a  factor  in  her  life  that  it  may  seem  as  if 
special  mention  of  many  of  these  friends  should 
be  made  in  even  so  brief  a  sketch  as  this.  But  they 
themselves  will  realize  how  impossible  this  would 
be  because  the  circle  to  which  they  belong  is  so 
large.  She  was  not  blind  to  the  failings  of  her 
friends,  but  was  clear  in  her  comprehension  of 
their  fundamental  traits,  and  her  love  for  them, 
her  strong  though  often  undemonstrative  inter- 
est in  them,  never  abated.  While  she  added  to 
their  number  many  times  during  her  stay  in  dif- 
ferent places,  no  new  friend  or  new  interest  ever 
took  the  place  of  an  old  one.  Her  generous  heart 
had  room  for  all  whom  she  took  to  it. 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  41 

Her  correspondence  with  friends  was  surpris- 
ingly large  in  view  of  the  frequency  of  her  letters 
to  her  own  immediate  circle ;  when  the  family  be- 
came widely  scattered  this  might  easily  have  been 
made  an  excuse  for  dropping  much  of  the  general 
correspondence,  but  instead  of  that  it  grew  as  the 
circle  of  her  interest  widened.  No  one  was  neg- 
lected and  all  letters  were  written  with  her  own 
hand.  During  the  last  years  of  her  life  much  of 
her  mail  that  was  not  personal  became  a  distinct 
burden  with  its  increasing  appeals  from  all  di- 
rections, but  she  conscientiously  attended  to  it  all 
herself.  An  abundance  of  good  common  sense 
helped  her  to  ignore  many  of  these,  but  any  that 
could  not  be  laid  aside  lightly  she  investigated 
in  a  way  that  took  much  time  and  strength. 

Her  outspoken  nature  and  uncompromising 
mind  often  made  her  draw  hard  and  fast  lines  in 
no  unmistakable  way  as  to  conduct  that  met  her 
approval  or  condemnation,  but  she  asked  no  one 
to  come  up  to  any  standard  higher  than  she  had 
laid  down  for  herself.  She  wanted  above  all  things 
to  be  just,  and  few  people  are  so  essentially  just 
as  she  was.  To  quote  a  friend,  "  her  judgment  of 
character  was  clear,  just,  and  vigorous." 


42  A  SKETCH 

One  fixed  habit  of  her  mind  must  not  be 
overlooked :  this  was  unwillingness  to  accept  any 
help  in  whatever  she  could  possibly  do  herself. 
Many  friends  thought  this  a  failing  and  fre- 
quently told  her  so.  They  were  wont  to  rebel 
against  the  fact  that  they  could  not  serve  her, 
while  she  was  a  past  master  in  the  art  of  serving 
others.  Her  swift  motions  and  deft  hands,  im- 
pelled by  her  quick  mind,  would  outwit  half  a 
dozen  people  who  were  looking  for  means  by 
which  to  circumvent  her.  No  amount  of  urging 
could  lead  her  to  agree  to  be  waited  upon  if  that 
could  be  avoided,  and  she  often  refused  to  accept 
ministrations  at  times  when  it  seemed  to  others 
that  they  were  necessary  to  her  comfort.  But 
even  at  such  times  she  would  withhold  no  service 
for  another.  Whatever  mention  the  Recording 
Angel  may  make  of  this  failing,  it  will  be  very 
brief  compared  with  what  is  written  of  the  count- 
less deeds  of  love  and  of  kindness  for  others  with 
which  she  filled  her  days. 

Fortunately, many  letters  to  the  family  and  other 
friends  have  been  kept.  They  are  singularly  like 
her;  never  diffuse,  but  with  that  rare  and  happy 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  43 

characteristic  of  telling  concretely  and  clearly 
what  was  of  most  interest  to  those  to  whom 
they  were  written,  and  never  letting  irrelevant 
generalities  take  the  place  of  matters  of  impor- 
tance. In  reading  these  letters  consecutively  we 
are  struck  by  the  naive  and  unconscious  way 
in  which  she  reveals  much  of  herself.  They  con- 
tain few  allusions  to  her  own  discomforts,  but 
abound  in  sympathy  for  any  that  have  come  to 
those  to  whom  she  is  writing;  they  show  how 
her  happiness  never  depended  on  anything  that 
she  might  obtain  for  herself,  while  she  magnifies 
whatever  others  do  for  her.  Social  gatherings 
that  brought  old  friends  and  new  together  she 
enjoyed  in  a  simple,  whole-hearted  way;  she 
cordially  approved  of  fun  and  encouraged  it  by 
giving  and  taking  it,  but  never  seemed  to  seek 
diversion.  Her  happiness  came  from  what  was 
close  at  hand,  especially  in  the  simple  every  day 
gifts  that  are  bestowed  on  us  all.  Among  her 
papers  is  found  this  "  Line  of  Cheer : " 

"  /  lave  the  air  of  hill  and  sea 
That  fiuts  its  crisfiness  into  me. 
I  love  the  smiling  of  the  sky 
That  sets  its  twinkle  in  mine  eye. 


44  A  SKETCH 

I  lave  the  -vigor  of  the  gale 

That  lends  me  strength  where  mine  doth  fail. 

I  love  the  golden  light  of  day 

That  makes  my  jaded  sfiirit  gay. 

I  love  the  dark  of  night  -whose  guest 

Ifind  myself  ivhe?i  I  would  rest. 

And  gratitude  doth  hold  me  thrall 

Unto  the  Giver  of  them  all." 
A  few  sentences  taken  at  random  from  the  let- 
ters show  that  this  expressed  what  was  in  her 
mind:  "The  day  has  been  beautiful.  You  know 
this  is  the  rainless  season  and  the  hills,  as  we  came 
along,  were  all  brown,  no  green  grass  anywhere, 
but  the  trees  are  beautiful  with  very  full  leafage, 
showing  that  the  air  is  very  moist.  ...  I  wish 
that  you  could  see  'The  Springs'  now  it  is  so 
very  beautiful.  ...  I  have  some  dear  little  finches 
building  in  their  evergreen  trees.  I  think  that 
there  are  several  pairs.  Tell  Gregg  that  I  can 
look  from  my  chamber  window  directly  into  a 
robin's  nest." 

In  one  of  her  letters  to  her  grandchildren 
she  says  :  "  I  went  down  to  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  rooms  yesterday  afternoon 
to  take  tea  and  hear  the  report  of  those  who  have 
been  raising  money  to  support  the  work  there. 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  45 

Some  little  girls  were  having  their  gymnastic  les- 
sons and  were  having  a  very  jolly  time.  At  last 
the  leaves  are  all  off  of  the  trees  and  I  think  the 
little  wayside  flowers  must  have  had  their  noses 
pinched  last  night  by  Jack  Frost." 

Her  interest  not  only  in  the  beauty  of  the 
world  about  her  but  in  what  others  are  doing 
to  make  it  bring  forth  and  bud  for  the  good 
of  mankind  is  shown  over  and  over :  u  Alice  is 
happy,"  she  writes,  "to  have  the  weather  warmer 
for  her  garden.  She  thinks  that  her  vegetables 
have  had  too  much  hail  and  cold  weather,  but 
the  last  two  days  have  been  fine.  The  country 
here  responds  very  quickly  to  showers,  the  trees 
and  grass  now  are  in  perfection  and  the  whole 
town  is  beautifully  dressed.  I  have  never  seen  it 
looking  better  notwithstanding  the  dandelions." 

The  family  letters  abound  in  allusions  to  the 
grandchildren  and  touch  upon  all  the  varied  inter- 
ests of  her  children;  many  were  written  directly 
to  the  grandchildren.  It  was  beautiful  to  see  the 
joy  those  little  people  brought  to  her,  and  it  was 
characteristic  of  her  that,  never  thinking  of  what 
might  be  considered  as  due  her,  she  was  surprised 
when  a  second  grandchild  was  given  her  name. 


46  A  SKETCH 

On  March  5,  1909,  she  writes:  "I  was  so 
pleased  this  morning  to  have  a  telegram  about 
the  new  little  girl,  and  you  were  fooling  Farwell 
about  the  name;  I  can't  believe  that  she  is  named 
already  and  for  me.  If  she  really  has  the  name 
of  Alice,  I  hope  that  she  will  be  a  better  woman 
than  I  have  been.  I  am  crazy  to  see  her  and 
am  wondering  if  she  looks  as  little  Faith  did  and 
has  as  much  hair.  Oh  dear !  the  distance  is  tre- 
mendous sometimes.  I  do  wish  that  I  had  a  home 
nearer  my  family. 

"What  did  'Sister'  say?  What  did  Alan  say 
and  do?  .  .  .  My  best  love  and  congratulations 
to  each.  I  am  so  glad  to  have  another  grand- 
daughter." 

Each  one  of  the  grandchildren  had  a  special 
place  in  her  thought  and  affections,  and  was  beau- 
tiful to  her.  "The  children  are  well  and  really 
pretty,  —  but  not  in  pictures,"  she  writes  once. 

The  strength  of  her  hands  was  largely  used 
in  knitting  dainty  garments  for  the  children  and 
their  mothers.  During  her  last  summer  she 
spoke  of  this  to  a  friend,  as  if  apologizing  for 
not  working  solely  for  our  soldiers,  instead  of 
indulging  herself  in  doing  what  she  did  for  her 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  47 

own,  who  "  seemed  to  like  what  she  made  for 
them."  This  is  the  only  self-indulgence  that  is 
mentioned  in  all  the  letters  that  have  been  read 
in  preparing  this  sketch.  Remembering  how  large 
were  her  gifts  to  war  relief  compared  to  what 
she  ever  spent  for  herself,  one  can  think  only 
with  delight  that  she  had  the  pleasure  of  weav- 
ing so  many  loving  thoughts  for  those  dearest  to 
her  into  her  last  gifts  to  them. 

The  following  shows  a  tact  that  often  wins 
where  criticism  would  lose  :  "  It  was  Maude's 
birthday  yesterday  .  .  .  two  friends  came  to  din- 
ner. The  second  maid  had  the  misfortune  to  fall 
down,  or  rather  turn  her  ankle  standing  up,  and 
she  had  to  be  put  to  bed.  The  cook  is  a  good- 
natured  girl  and  she  thought  that  she  could  wait 
on  the  table.  I  did  not  think  much  of  her  ability, 
but  thanked  her,  gave  her  a  few  instructions, 
and  told  her  to  put  on  a  white  waist  and  wear 
a  good  white  apron.  Well  I  was  repaid  for  not 
showing  any  doubt  to  her,  for  she  waited  very 
well  indeed,  and  all  went  merry  as  a  birthday 
bell." 

She  does  not  hesitate  to  criticize  herself,  even 
to  the  point  of  placing  herself  in  a  ridiculous 


48  A  SKETCH 

light,  one  of  the  hallmarks  never  found  on  small 
souls.  For  instance,  she  once  wrote:  "You  will 
be  interested  in  my  yesterday  afternoon  exploits. 
I  started  to  crochet  a  white  hand-bag,  like  one 

that  Mrs.  S is  making,  and  after  I  had  done 

quite  a  lot,  I  found  a  mistake  away  back  and 
so  went  to  work  and  took  it  out.  Then  I  thought 
I  would  fill  one  of  my  fountain  pens,  and  when 
I  thought  that  I  had  been  unusually  expeditious 
and  neat,  I  looked  in  the  glass  and  found  my 
best  white  waist  splashed  up  with  the  ink.  Wasn't 
I  a  very  low-spirited  woman!  This  morning  I 
am  trying  to  reduce  the  brilliant  color  of  the 
spots  by  putting  on  salt  and  lemon  and  putting 
in  the  sun,  but  I  know  not  if  they  will  go,  but 
I  consider  them  a  disgrace  to  Alice  Cogs-well 
Bemis." 

The  letters  give  glimpses  of  many  personal 
gifts  that  were  so  well  concealed  from  all  except 
those  to  whom  they  were  made.  It  is  shown  that 
these  were  not  given  impulsively,  but  were  care- 
fully thought  out  and  almost  invariably  planned 
to  meet  what  seemed  to  her  a  definite  need.  For 
example:  "I  have  told  Mrs.  Gregg  about  my 
plan  for  a  trip  for  Gregg  and  herself  and  offered 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  49 

to  pay  all  the  expense.  ...  I  will  enclose  a  check 
which  you  can  fill  out  as  I  have  no  idea  how 
much  it  will  cost.  At  any  rate  please  use  it  and 
send  Gregg  away  for  a  while;  it  will  be  a  benefit 
to  him  to  travel  and  be  away  from  servants.  Let 
him  look  after  himself." 

She  rarely  gives  advice,  but  frequently  makes 
friendly  suggestions  backed  by  the  material 
wherewithal  necessary  to  carry  them  out."  I  have 
been  sorry  to  know  that  Gregg  has  been  having 
so  much  cold;  it  came  to  me  one  night  that  per- 
haps it  would  do  him  good  to  take  a  trip  down 

to  Hampton.  I  remember  that  Mrs.  B had 

a  son  with  General  Armstrong  at  Hampton, 
teaching  typesetting,  and  she  went  down  to  see 
him.  She  told  me  of  some  people  who  went  down 
there  every  year  to  avoid  the  snows  because  they 
never  had  catarrhal  troubles  at  Hampton.  She 
said  that  it  was  a  fine  climate,  so  I  wondered  .  .  . 
if  it  would  not  do  Gregg  good  to  go  down  there 
and  live  in  the  open  air  of  that  lovely  region  for 
several  weeks." 

In  writing  to  her  son  in  February,  1907,  of 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Bemis  Hall,  at 
Colorado  College,  she  makes  no  allusion  to  the 


50  A  SKETCH 

gift,  that  made  this  building  possible,  and  says 
only :  "  I  suppose  Gregg  wrote  you  or  Sister  that 
I  helped  lay  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  hall  yes- 
terday morning.  Mrs.  S.,  one  of  the  19O8  Class, 
and  myself  patted  on  the  cement.  Gregg  re- 
marked if  Daddy  and  Alan  had  been  there,  there 
would  have  been  a  lot  more  put  on.  The  wind 
was  very  chilly  yesterday,  but  we  were  not  there 
very  long  and  we  were  fairly  well  wrapped." 

Mrs.  Bemishad  an  attack  of  appendicitis  while  in 
Boston  in  the  autumn  of  1910,  which  made  an 
immediate  operation  necessary.  When  she  was 
able  to  be  moved,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taylor  took 
her  to  Asheville  for  the  winter,  as  she  was  not 
strong  enough  for  the  longer  trip  to  Colorado; 
but  the  weather  there  that  year  was  very  unfor- 
tunate for  an  invalid,  and  later  they  went  to 
Atlantic  City.  Here  Mr.  Bemis joined  them;  he 
now  was  able  to  make  business  arrangements 
that  relieved  him  of  the  many  details  he  had  long 
carried,  and  a  new  era  in  the  family  life  was 
begun — the  happiest  of  all. 

From  that  time  all  enforced  separations  were 
over,  and  he  was  with  his  wife  continuously 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  51 

wherever  it  was  best  for  her  to  be.  When,  after  a 
year,  she  was  able  to  return  to  Colorado  Springs, 
she  was  very  happy  to  be  again  in  her  home,  and 
the  old  life  among  friends  was  resumed  as  always, 
quickly  and  happily. 

Birthdays  and  wedding  anniversaries  were  gala 
days  in  the  family,  especially  Mr.  Bemis's  birth- 
day, when  there  was  always  a  large  dinner  party 
with  intimate  friends  added  to  the  family  group. 
Fun  and  abounding  cheer  were  invariably  among 
the  good  things  provided.  As  these  days  came 
around  there  was  no  abatement  of  interest  in  them 
and  of  cheerful  outward  observance. 

For  many  years  very  definite  plans  were  made 
by  the  children  for  the  golden  wedding  of  their 
father  and  mother,  on  November  21,  1916.  That 
was  to  be  the  crowning  day  of  all  the  family 
days,  and  though  Mrs.  Bemis  sometimes  pro- 
tested against  planning  for  it,  saying  that  she 
could  n't  expect  to  see  that  day,  as  it  approached 
she  took  much  pleasure  in  the  plans  her  children 
made  for  it.  They  were  all  to  come  home,  each 
bringing  one  or  more  of  the  grandchildren.  Their 
mother  was  to  have  no  care  whatever  in  connec- 


52  A  SKETCH 

tion  with  the  celebration.  Mrs.  Taylor,  the  only 
one  whose  home  was  in  Colorado  Springs,  made 
arrangements  to  have  the  family  dinner  in  her 
own  house  and  later  in  the  evening  a  reception 
for  friends. 

The  summer  of  1916  was  passed  as  usual  at 
Mohonk,  and  was  followed  by  the  stay  of  some 
weeks  in  Boston  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bemis  made 
each  autumn.  While  there,  Mrs.  Bemis  had  a 
fall,  which  later  proved  to  have  serious  effects. 
This  was  barely  a  month  before  the  golden  wed- 
ding, and  though  she  tried  to  treat  it  lightly  and 
took  the  journey  to  Colorado  Springs,  on  arriv- 
ing there  she  consulted  her  physician,  who  said 
that  a  surgical  operation  was  necessary.  She 
wanted  to  postpone  it  until  after  the  golden  wed- 
ding celebration,  but  he  was  not  willing  to  risk 
any  delay,  and  on  November  16  she  went 
through  the  ordeal.  The  convalescence  was  more 
rapid  than  the  family  had  dared  to  hope,  but  they 
knew  that  the  situation  was  still  serious  when 
the  wedding  day  came.  To  them  fell  the  delicate 
task  of  planning  to  observe  it  so  that  Mrs.  Bemis 
would  not  know  it  was  done  with  anxious  hearts, 
and  of  making  it  only  a  time  of  rejoicing,  and 


ALICE.  COGSWELL  BEMIS  53 

withal  to  do  this  in  a  way  that  would  not  tax 
her  in  the  least. 

There  was  an  early  dinner  for  old  and  young, 
with  one  vacant  place,  in  the  family  home.  Let- 
ters, telegrams,  and  whatever  else  had  been  writ- 
ten for  the  occasion  were  read,  and  then  all  went 
to  the  hospital  for  a  short  call.  Five  grandchil- 
dren were  there,  representing  each  of  the  three 
families;  with  Mr.  Bemis  and  their  parents  they 
entered  the  invalid's  room  in  procession.  Each 
child  carried  a  long-stemmed  golden  chrysanthe- 
mum, the  girls  dressed  in  white  with  yellow  rib- 
bon bows  on  their  hair,  the  boys  wearing  yellow 
neckties;  the  older  ones  each  gave  her  a  few 
words  of  greeting  as  cheerfully  as  if  they  had 
come  with  light  hearts  from  a  feast  where  there 
was  no  shadow.  "Just  like  the  Bemises,"  it  was 
said. 

She  was  able  to  listen  to  a  number  of  letters 
and  telegrams  and  to  enjoy  some  of  the  flowers 
that  had  been  sent  in  great  abundance  to  the 
house.  In  writing  of  that  day,  one  of  her  chil- 
dren says:  "  I  shall  never  forget  her  face  looking 
so  thin  and  delicate  but  so  beaming  with  happi- 
ness and  the  humorous  twinkle  of  her  eyes  be- 


54  A  SKETCH 

hind  her  spectacles.  Grandpa  walked  at  the  head 
of  the  procession  looking  very  proud  and  happy 
and  making  a  great  tramping  and  show  at  keep- 
ing time.  Doree  Taylor's  golden  curls  were  like 
sunshine,  and  we  were  all  so  happy  to  think  that 
in  spite  of  all  our  fears  Mama  Bemis  was  still 
with  us.  How  glad  we  all  are  that  we  had  that 
happy  time  together!" 

All  her  good  pluck  and  its  continuance  in  the 
days  that  followed  had  its  good  result.  At  first 
the  convalescence  was  surprisingly  rapid,  and  in 
a  few  weeks  she  was  able  to  leave  the  hospital 
and  begin  the  climb  back  to  her  old  strength. 
It  was  a  trying  winter,  but  a  trip  to  California 
helped  her  much,  so  that  when  she  reached  Mo- 
honk  for  her  last  stay  there  the  gain  was  marked 
and  she  moved  about  with  ease.  One  of  her 
friends  who  spent  the  summer  near  her  states  that 
she  spoke  often  of  this  gain,  and  showed  her  old 
cheer  and  interest  in  all  that  affected  her  friends 
and  in  the  stirring  events  throughout  the  world 
and  especially  in  the  great  war  into  which  we  had 
entered ;  and  that  she  talked  more  often  than  was 
her  wont  of  the  inner  life  and  of  the  inevitable 
change — the  great  adventure — and  the  re  vela- 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  55 

tions  it  would  bring.  She  spoke  as  if  she  thought 
it  might  come  to  her  in  the  near  future,  but  al- 
ways with  a  quiet  acceptance  of  it  as  one  expe- 
rience in  the  continuous  life. 

For  one  reason  only  she  would  have  it  delayed, 
that  her  husband  might  not  have  to  take  the  rest 
of  his  journey  alone.  This  wish  was  not  fulfilled, 
for  the  transition  came  quickly.  She  was  spared 
what  would  have  been  difficult  for  one  with  her 
independent  spirit — a  long  time  of  physical  de- 
pendence on  others.  On  October  9  she  left  Bos- 
ton with  her  husband  for  Colorado.  A  slight  cold 
which  she  had  seemed  better  on  reaching  Chi- 
cago, but  on  arriving  home  it  increased,  and 
though  she  tried  to  ignore  it  for  a  day  or  two, 
she  was  obliged  to  call  her  physician.  It  soon 
proved  very  serious;  double  pneumonia  devel- 
oped rapidly,  and  on  the  18th,  with  her  husband 
and  all  her  children  around  her,  she  passed  peace- 
fully and  without  pain  into  the  fuller  life. 

A  brief  service  was  held  in  the  First  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Colorado  Springs  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  following  day,  and  in  the  evening 
Mr.  Bemis  and  all  his  family  left  for  the  east 
with  the  body  which,  on  October  23,  was  laid  in 


56  A  SKETCH 

the  Newton  Cemetery  beside  those  of  her  two 
children.  The  funeral  was  held  at  two  o'clock  on 
the  afternoon  of  that  day  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Newton  Cemetery.  Friends  and  relatives  from 
many  directions  were  gathered  there,  and  the 
chancel  was  filled  with  flowers  sent  from  far  and 
near. 

It  was  one  of  New  England's  most  glorious 
autumn  days.  Though  there  was  no  wind,  the 
bright  leaves  fell  in  abundance  quietly  and  stead- 
ily in  the  warm  sunshine. 

The  service  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  James 
B.  Gregg,  D.D.,  for  over  thirty  years  a  personal 
friend  of  the  family,  and  bound  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bemis  by  a  very  close  and  tender  tie  in  the  mar- 
riage of  their  son  to  his  daughter  Faith.  He  was 
also  their  pastor  in  Colorado  Springs  for  twenty- 
seven  years.  The  service  was  very  simple,  con- 
sisting only  of  wisely  chosen  selections  from  the 
Bible,  full  of  tenderness  and  of  joy  and  faith  in 
the  eternal,  followed  by  an  uplifting  and  strength- 
ening prayer  that  Dr.  Gregg  had  written  for  that 
special  service. 

This  brief  sketch  of  one  into  whose  life  came  far 


ALICE  COGSWELL  BEMIS  57 

more  than  the  ordinary  measure  of  happiness, 
and  who  had  the  heart  and  the  will  to  bring  all 
the  happiness  she  could  to  others,  is  all  too  in- 
adequate; the  only  justification  for  its  existence 
lies  in  the  hope  that  it  may,  in  some  degree,  sug- 
gest to  her  children's  children  and  to  those  who 
come  after  them,  the  personality  that  was  so  dear 
and  so  human  to  those  who  knew  her,  so  unselfish 
and  so  thoughtful  for  others,  so  mindful  of  the 
fact  that  this  life  of  ours  is  only  a  stewardship. 


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LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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